Preliminary task: Picture time... Again.

Wednesday 8th February- Our preliminary task is to create a school prospectus. To do this we had to go out around school in groups and take pictures to do with educational type things. This included getting a wide range of pictures in different shots and angles. The pictures we took were of students in uniform working in lessons, of sixth form students in the library and study room, and of the front of school with the St. Marks sign. We had to take lots of pictures to make sure we didn't end up using the same ones as the other people in our group. For the preliminary task we did have to have a photo of a student in the medium close-up shot, so we took a variety to choose from.

Magazine Contents Page Analysis on Prezi

Friday 3rd February- I had to do an analysis of a magazine contents page in a Prezi presentation. I found this task okay. At first it was a bit difficult but once I had figured out how it works, it was simple to use.

Link to my contents page analysis:

Nature Magazine

Friday 3rd February- Having taken pictures for a nature magazine, I then had to create the front cover. This was to get some practice with photoshop. I find photoshop a confusing and difficult program to use but for my first attempt at using it, I think it went well. However, I admit it could've gone a lot better. I don't think my cover looks too bad but it's not anywhere near something that would actually be found on a real magazine cover in the shops. But then again like I already mentioned, it was to get practice using photoshop before I start on the preliminary and main tasks.

My nature magazine front cover:

Taking pictures in the cold...

Wednesday 1st February- In groups we had to go out with a camera and take pictures of all things to do with nature. We had to try and get as many different pictures as possible while thinking of what may be found on the front cover of a nature magazine. We also had to get a variety so that we didn't use the same pictures as eachother. This meant that although everyones cover was nature orientated, they wouldn't all be exactly the same. If we didn't get decent pictures, then our magazine covers wouldn't be that good.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Friday 27th January- Today I was set the task of analysing a magazine front cover. I didn't really understand what to write about and therefore found the task a little bit difficult. In the lesson, I learnt about how a magazine front cover is laid out and the importance of it being a certain way.


Colour: the main colours on this front cover are red, white and black. This is going to be because of the way they are used and set out make things on the cover stand out. These colours are also used because of the nature of the magazine, the type of music is rock and 'emo' and therefore would contain dark colours to go with the theme. It also has small bursts of yellow to make sure those certain parts do stand out as they are likely to help sell the magazine.

Masthead: the Kerrang! masthead is widely recognisable and used for all advertising purposes. It is on the magazine and music channel, whilst also being used to advertise the radio station and Kerrang! tour. The masthead is made up of a font that seems broken, is bold and black. This would also be to stick with the dark theme of the magazine. On this cover the masthead is partially covered by the main image so is well known and doesn't need to be completely seen to recognise it.

Main image: the main image is a big photo taking up most of the page with a few small images around it. This is to not take attention away from the main feature of the magazine which the image accompanies. It would catch the reader because they will see who the magazine mainly involves each week and it will either interest them or not. The smaller images show the readers some of the other contents of the magazine.

Main coverline: this is in big bold font to show its importance in the issue and is situated with the main image between the middle and bottom of the cover. When you look at this cover the main coverline is the first thing your eyes are pulled to, apart from maybe the main image. The font colour is white so it's bright which helps it stand out.

Coverlines: all the coverlines are in smaller font to not take interest away from the main coverline. They are still made to stand out with some in different colours and some in italics, but the reader would still leave reading them until last.

Barcode and dateline: the dateline containing the issues date, is set down with the price of the magazine next to the barcode on the bottom right corner of the magazine. It's well out of the way of anything important so as not to take and attention away from the cover itself.

Left-third: In some small shops, magazine covers aren't completely shown and so the left-third is important in the selling of a magazine. Like I mentioned in the masthead part, it is partially covered, but only on the right hand side so that when it's on display without the whole cover being seen the left-third is completely recognisable. The short coverlines in the left-third would also help to sell the magazine because this is where they would create the first sign of interest in the issue by a reader reading them to see what it includes before picking the magazine up to see the main feature.

Language: the language used on the front cover sticks to the theme of the magazine also. This is to make certain that the whole of the magazine is consistent and to show that the front cover represents the magazine correctly. Words and phrases like ''death' and 'come over to the dark side' stay true to the dark theme of the magazine and fit well with the genre of music.

Prezi link

Friday 27th January- I made a Prezi account. Prezi is a program to make presentations. It's like a better and more modern version of powerpoint maybe? The presentations are definitely better and more interesting, and it's quite simple to use when you try.

Link to my Prezi account: http://prezi.com/user/MarikaClarke/

Photoshop.

Wednesday 25th January- Photoshop tutorial. I missed the photoshop tutorial lesson because I was ill. This put me a little bit behind everyone else and when it came to using photoshop I had no clue where to start. I'd never used the program before and missing the tutorial really didn't have a positive effect but it couldn't have been helped. This meant that I had to research photoshop myself including to read and watch tutorials in my own time, which was a bit time consuming and if i'm honest didn't teach me much. Then, when it came to using the program, I had to try different things and see what works and how it works. When it comes to photoshop, my conclusion is that practice makes perfect and you just have to learn by trying it.